US health workers arrested in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean police have arrested four health workers from the United States on
suspicion of dispensing Aids drugs without a licence.

12:15AM BST 13 Sep 2010

A statement from the American embassy said the four members of a Californian Christian volunteer health service were arrested in Harare on Friday and are expected to appear in court on Monday.

The group, which denies the charges, are from the Allen Temple Aids ministry in Oakland, California, and include a doctor, two nurses and a community volunteer.

"They operated from two clinics, one in Mutoko and one in Harare, where they worked primarily with Aids orphans and HIV positive patients for the past decade," the embassy said.

Police officials were not immediately available to comment, but weekend state media reports quoted a spokesman saying the Americans were among a group of six, including Zimbabweans, arrested for operating an unregistered clinic.

"We have picked up the six for questioning in connection with practising without a premises' licence and dispensing medicines without the supervision of a pharmacist," a spokesman told the state-controlled Herald newspaper.